Aretha Franklin vs John McCain

As you may know in the past week we lost two Great Americans our beloved Aretha Franklin and John McCain. Both lived amazing lives and both amassed a ton of wealth. However, upon their respective deaths two very different scenarios played out.

Aretha sadly had no will or trust enforce to protect her estimated $80 million dollar estate. You may ask what does this mean. Well it’s a great question. Here is what it means.

Oakland County Probate Court will handle her estate and because of this her creditors will have an opportunity to set claim to what is owed to them from her estate. Not just that long lost relatives and friends can come out of know where setting claims. This can lead to a long costly court battle.

All of this could have been avoided had Aretha set up an Estate Plan and a Will.

You may ask why this is important to me and why am I writing this. Well look no further than John McCain. His family will have no such issue. Aretha’s family deserved that same peace of mind.

We as African-Americans have got to do a better job of managing our financial legacies when we pass. If we are going to compete on any level financially it starts here.